Nil Sorsky's Rule for Hermits

Nil or Nikolai Sorsky or Sorskiĭ (1433-1508) was the
most significant figure in the promotion of hesychasm and eremitism in early
modern Russia. Though he only composed two works, modest guidelines for monks and
hermits, their influence and the influence of his hermitage were instrumental
in a widespread eremitic movement in Russia that persisted for centuries.
Although Nil Sorsky is associated with the Non-possessor controversy, this
article addresses only his Tradition (Predanie) and Rule (Ustav).

Nil Maikov was born of the upper class, well educated, and with a great
capacity for advanced learning. He spent time as a young monk at the
Kirillo-Belozersky monastery, where the abbot promoted hesychasm, that is, a
form of mediation and continuous prayer. Nil was encouraged to study and
traveled to Constantinople, Palestine, and Greece. In Greece he spent fruitful time
at the monastery of Mt. Athos. The experience of Mt. Athos deepened his
understanding of hesychasm and additionally offered him examples of administrative models for
monasticism and eremitism heretofore unknown in Russian Orthodoxy.

Nil returned to the Kirillo monastery, but the spiritual environment had
changed. He decided to leave and pursue his plan. By the Sora River, in an
isolated and swampy area, Nil founded a hermitage. (A great deal of hagiographic
material accompanies this period and will not detain us here.) His model was the
skete, based on the desert hermits and the practice of Mt. Athos.

The skete is a
hermitage of no more than two or three hermits, an elder and younger disciple(s).
They pursued a schedule and routine of practice of their own devising, usually engaging in
continuous prayer, reading, writing, and the editing and copying of manuscripts
and crafting of icons and religious articles to be exchanged for provisions. Their
time and energies, therefore, were entirely individual. What they had in common
was the store of food from donations, and the availability of the elder for
counsel. The hermits were not to engage in money-making labor, and though they
gardened or foraged for themselves, the manuscripts or icons they produced
elicited alms, which were kept when sufficient or given to the poor when more
than enough.

Eremitic life

The emphasis of the eremitic life was self-development, a contemplative
life centered on intellect and will. The aspirant should reduce externals and
then seek a spiritual guide for specific directions concerning disposition and
readiness. However, Nil Sorsky understood that his contemporaries faced a
paucity of spiritual guides. He had no qualms recommending the efficacy of the
writings of the Church Fathers on all matters spiritual and practical. Nil's own
modest writings reflect a thorough familiarity with the Church Fathers, whose
writings he simply calls the "holy writings." But these were
prerequisites to the actual eremitic life. As Nil emphasizes: "The strong ... struggle in solitude." As
commentator Maloney notes: "The first step is to return to God by leaving all worldly
attachments and retiring into solitude."

At this point in the self-development of the hermit, Nil Sorsky introduces
hesychasm, which Maloney describes as "a Christian form of living the spiritual
life that had its roots in the first hermits who fled into the barren deserts of
Egypt and Syria during the fourth century." The hesychasm inherited by Nil
Sorsky was based on the core school of Sinai that included Nilus of Sinai, John
Climacus, Hesychius of Sinai, Philotheus, and Pseudo-Macarius. This school of
thought was advanced in the 11th century by Symeon the New
Theologian. The revived hesychasm of Gregory of Sinai in the 14th century took
root in Mt. Athos, where Nil Sorsky had resided for a while and experienced
first-hand. By the time Nil
established his Sora hermitage, he had mastered the literary sources noted above
and had experienced the essentials of hesychasm enough to put them into practice
in his native land.

The ultimate goal of hesychasm was ascetic and mystical, culminating in the
union of the individual and God. Hesychasm begins in physical solitude, which
Nil believed was best provided by the hermitage in the form of the skete.
However, physical separation from the world and from others assured withdrawal from speech, hearing, and seeing, but it
did not automatically assure hesychasm. The second necessary factor was
silence.

John Climacus describes silence as an intellectual and mental process of
withdrawal of concern and desire. This process purifies the mind and inner
attention. It empties the mind of thoughts, and provides for a still-pointedness
or thoughtlessness, in the sense of possessing nothing, not even desiring to
possess anything.

To maintain this purity of heart and mind, the Church Fathers recommend
prayer, continuous prayer which fills the mind and heart. This state of
emptiness, maintained by continuous prayer, is called hesychia, meaning
stillness, quiet, tranquility, and serenity. The function of continuous prayer,
then, is to serve as a mechanism for maintaining vigilance and focus. In Greek,
the term nepsis refers to vigilance or sobriety. Evagrius calls it praxis, the
practice of virtue which purifies the passions or emotions. Other terms might be
prudence, discretion, or self-discipline.

How does the hesychast maintain this ideal state of tranquility or silence?
As mentioned, the commentators recommend continuous prayer, but the discovery of Mt. Athos
was the Jesus Prayer. The Jesus Prayer was a formulaic repetition or recitation
combined with a physical technique familiar in all meditative traditions: a
specific physical posture, minimal breathing, and a moving of the mind into the
heart, with the attention focused on the navel (the dan tien of Taoist
meditation).

The mystical element of hesychasm is the culmination of the entire process,
what Sorsky calls "ineffable joy." The Kingdom of Heaven consists in nothing
other than this blissful condition," he states.

When one experiences such an ineffable joy, this state suddenly cuts off all
vocal prayer from the mouth, the tongue, the heart -- guardian of all thoughts
-- and the mind -- the seed of feelings. All are silenced, along with the
different thoughts that normally soar about like fast-flying birds. Now thought
does not govern prayer but is directed by another power; ... [the mind] dwells on things
ineffable and does not know where it is.

Writings

The writings of Nil Sorsky are not simply generous quotations from the Church
Fathers but a seamless integration or synthesis of thought that supports and
extends Sorsky's own points. One of the hallmarks of his writing is the
assiduous avoidance of hagiographical or legendary material. His closely
reasoned arguments and counsel will not appeal to mere emotion or
sentimentality. Nil avoids appeals to authority, use of rhetoric, or figures
of speech to pursue psychological and practical aspects of spirituality. In all
of this, the mental preparation of the hermit is seen as a prerequisite to the
lifestyle.

Nil's translator has identified the many Church Fathers quoted. The favorites
are John Climacus, Isaac the Syrian, Gregory of Sinai, and Symeon the New
Theologian. Overall Nil uses over a dozen Fathers. He uses so many not to evoke their
authority but to extend his concept of hesychasm, as already suggested. In fact,
the sources he does not quote are some of his foundational inspirations:
Evagrius and Pseudo-Macarius. From Evagrius, Nil derives the concepts of
intellectual contemplation, the central role of asceticism, and the notion of
withdrawal, disengagement, and non-desire in apatheia. From the Pseudo-Macarius
comes the trajectory of solitude and silence culminating in penthos, the sense
of smallness of self, compunction, humility, and the gift of tears. Added to all
of these ideas is the Jesus Prayer popularized at Mr. Athos and otherwise
unknown
in Russia at the time.

The Tradition (Predanie)

The Tradition is an early and brief work intended to offer a general
guideline to the hermit-disciples, not a rule so much as an orientation.

This is the tradition of the elder, Nil, hermit, to his disciples and to all
who may find it to their liking concerning the skete-type of life as found in
the writings of the holy Fathers.

Early in The Tradition, Nil establishes the lifestyle and work of
those he
calls "my closest brothers, one in spirit, not to be considered as my
disciples." Their work is in intellectual work in the cell and their practical
work as artisans. The hermits do not sell but receive alms. However,
paradoxically, they have no alms to give, for they should own nothing not needed.
Their alms are in helping others with spiritual discernment.

In our cell it is fitting that the brothers and strangers who visit us should
be instructed [by the elder], skilled in the art of listening and ability to
direct souls.

The disciples will, in time, acquire these skills as well.

Nil emphasizes evangelical poverty, extending simplicity to include the absence of
gold and silver objects, even in sacred vessels, and to the lack of chapel adornment,
even to pillars and structure. Simplicity is extended to food and drink, to an
emphasis on hard work (both manual and intellectual), and to personal
possessions. In keeping with the style of Mt. Athos, women were prohibited from
nearing the skete, as were beardless youths.

The Rule (Ustav)

With his second and late writing, Nil concentrates on the theme of spiritual
struggle. Using the Church Fathers, Nil identifies the overall aspects of
spirituality, on how to gain mental and psychological strength, and what to
expect to encounter in pursuing the ascetic life. Again, the premise is that
this spiritual pursuit is accomplished within the context of eremitism. The Rule
concludes with characteristics of the life of the successful hermit.

In his introductory remarks, Nil stresses his indebtedness to the Church
Fathers, commending his readers to follow their example, even in
insignificant things. In their works are the key to heart activity and mental
attentiveness, which ultimately satisfy the yearnings of the spirit. Hesychasm
is the technique of hermits and monks alike. Using St. Agathon's metaphor, Nil
describes bodily action as the mere leaf and spiritual action as the fruit, thus
recommending the interior disposition over the externals of ritual, sound, and
sight.

The level of psychology for meditation reflected in Nil's writing shows the
comprehensiveness of hesychasm. Hesychasm identifies the presentation of a
thought, the dialogue of self with the thought, acceptance and captivation with
the thought, and culminates with the self's adaptation and sheer passion. That
thoughts will present themselves to the mind is inevitable, but to dialogue,
entertain, or
converse with the thought is a vanity of self believing in its own undisciplined
power. By this time thought is an active engagement and loss of silence.

The methodology of hesychasm seeks to restore silence. This is accomplished by
heart activity, especially continual prayer or the Jesus Prayer, says Nil. The
entire self is readied for response, including posture, breathing,
concentration, and the placing of the mind in the heart. This latter image is a
visualization based on abstracting the mind from thought into an organ of
silence. Thus continual prayer reverberates to the exclusion of thought, like an
Eastern mantra. When weary of prayer, Nil advises the hermit to switch to chant,
then to reading aloud (hence the value of skete companions), each for about one
hour.

Nil summarizes this cycle:

When one allows any distraction to disturb the mind, such draws the mind
away from silence. For silence is had only in peace and tranquility, since God
is peace and is beyond all agitation and noise.

But Nil carefully distinguishes "hesychast prayer of deep silence" from
"the prayer of monks who live and observe the rule of the coenobitic life." The
practice of the hesychast no longer needs chants or reading of the "exploits" of the
lives of the Church Fathers, including the desert hermits. Here Nil
transcends hagiography and even conventional ritual or practical moral example. "No
oars are needed if the sails of a boat are filled with wind to bring it across
the sea of passion," he writes in a felicitous passage. Hence Nil rejects all-night vigils, uninterrupted chanting, "lip-prayer" and like external practices,
even when some Church Fathers recommend them. Contemplative prayer is beyond
expression or content.

Nil is confident that hesychasm is the essential
spiritual method.

Concerning those who are progressing and who have reached a state of
enlightenment, they are not required to recite psalms, but they are to practice
silence, continuous prayer, and contemplation, since they are living in union
with God.

Nil quotes Isaac the Syrian about refraining from speech, for then,

the heart is silenced, which stands as a guard over fantasies along with the
mind, which directs the feeling senses and controls the thoughts that are like
swift and bold flying birds.

How does the novice attain this level of practice? Nil warns, as mentioned
earlier, that there are few reliable spiritual directors, so that the
immediate step is to "distance ourselves as far as possible from the vanities
of this world." The immediate need of the aspirant and hermit is a routine
of reading and manual labor, which develops humility. The aspirant

should live in his cell with great zeal and attention. As much as his
strength allows, let him live the ascetic life in all details in accord with the
holy writings, fulfilling all with piety in humility and always with zeal,
without any laziness or weakening.

A section of The Rule entitled "Guidelines to All Activities in Our Skete
Life," recapitulates the themes mentioned above: the use of prayer, chanting,
reading, augmented by fasting, vigils, prostrations as a form of physical
exercise [also used in Eastern systems] and manual labor. These are the
practices of aspirants and disciples, the prerequisites to hesychasm. Nil's emphasis on
physical fitness is notable: "Bodily labor in the required measure is demanded
of those endowed with a healthy and strong body."

Lengthy sections follow, itemizing specific vices and how the aspirant can
address them. In the process Nil further elaborates skete practice.

Gluttony is overcome by recalling the fleetingness of consuming and the
corruption of food. Eat sufficiently but always short of fullness. Stop so
as to still be a little hungry. Eat whatever is placed before you. Do not
eat earlier than the ninth hour (3 p.m.), and only that one meal a day or
with a late collation. Abstain from meat but do not refuse it (as alms).

Fornication is overcome by avoiding excessive self-recrimination and
confession. Avoid all contact or conversation with women and youths.

Covetousness includes not just gold and silver but clothing, tableware,
tools for manual labor -- any material object. For necessities, obtain only
what is "cheap, unadorned, and easily obtained." Conquering covetousness
means not merely doing without but not even desiring.

Anger is the recollection of things done and the desire to avenge them.
Cut off memory and thought.

Sadness is a form of self-pity and leads to despair, impatience, and
sloth. In sadness one perceives oneself as disposed and abandoned to
grievous hardship by God. Nil advises not to "exaggerate with our human
ideas these hardships." One must stop complaining and disengage from
imagined persecution. Mourn our weakness in order to foster repentance, not
out of sadness.

Acedia follows sadness and is a bane to those "who live the solitary,
silent life," because of the necessity of meeting burdens unsupported and alone -- another positive argument for the
skete. While
it may be good to persist alone in one's cell, it may be better to converse
with "someone skilled and edifying in the spiritual life."

Vanity is the assumption of worthiness and praise of corrupt actions.
Vanity is the precursor of pride.

Nil concludes the section on vices with a perspective on death and judgment.
His excellent reflections on the transitoriness of life and the vanity of
possessions are indeed universal, transcending cultures and religions:

What glory attained on earth will remain incorruptible? Every stack of hay is
of the weakest stuff and all dreams are most illusory. In one hour death
receives all of these. ... And so, reflect on the vanity of this world to which
during our life we are so attached and for which we work in vain. The road on
which we journey is so short. Our life is nothing but smoke, vapor, a cloud, and
ash. It appears and quickly vanished. Even to call it a road does not have much
meaning.

Nil then describes the gift of tears, a phenomenon born of profound
humility and reflection, a pain and sorrow for deeds, lost opportunities, and
sins.

The final section of The Rule presents a summary of "prudent means," which
directly centers on the eremitic virtue of silence and solitude. The section
capitulates the life of the hermit as, quoting Symeon the New Theologian, "one
of silence without any anxiety." Nil speaks of conversation as frost in a garden.
In contrast, "Silence is where the flowers bloom and bring forth open, tender,
young flowers that encircle the garden of the soul." St. Isaac says that
"A person who turns to the world becomes deprived of life. Nil elaborates that
the hermit should "not even see any person of the world, neither hearing his
words not listening to any news about such a person."

But the hermit must accept the time and effort needed to cultivate the virtue
of silence, for conventional religious disdain the entire method of the hermit.
Therefore, the hermit must not even presume an attachment to hesychasm or
mystical insight, taking refuge in discretion. Only a mature brother can pursue
this path, and Nil recommends that the brother not pursue it alone.

For when he
is alone and falls into acedia or is overcome by sleep or by sloth or
despair, there is no one at that time to lift him up and give him encouragement.

The
hermit life is not for those unwilling to pursue to the fullest extent the life
of silence. In this, too, Nil follows the advice of John Climacus:

There are
three excellent ways to live the monastic life: either to live alone in solitude
as a hermit, or to live in silence with one or two other monks, or to live the
common life in a coenobitic monastery.

Conclusion

Nil Sorsky presented his Rule as a reminder to his brothers, based on "my
poor wisdom." But he had clearly absorbed the wisdom of centuries of Christian
tradition and discerned how to apply it in the context of hesychasm and
eremitism.

The influence of Nil's hermitage and writings spread throughout
Russia and challenged his successors in the Non-possessor controversy, when his
ideas were challenged and overthrown by ecclesiastical and secular political
authorities, who perceived eremitism as radical in the theological, social, and
psychological sense. But the eremitism of St. Nil Sorsky was firmed grounded on a
strong and vibrant tradition that recalled the clear meaning and intention of
the desert hermits, and ultimately the significance of the teachings of Jesus.

¶

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL REFERENCES

Nil Sorsky or Sorskiĭ: The Complete Writings.
Edited and translated by George A. Maloney, preface by John L. Mina. New York:
Paulist Press, 2003. Maloney, George A., Russian Hesychasm: The Spirituality
of Nil Sorskij. The Hague: Mouton, 1973.